Do you have the Bentley?

I myself would wait for all the right tools to arrive.

Have you got the intake and exhaust manifolds completely off, etc.? Because those need to be done anyway, in case you decide to wait for the right tools and want to take advantage of the weather.

When I did mine, I left the camshafts in, and removed them, etc. on the workbench, and that's what I would do again.

In general, I'd say this job is not about doing it really well as much as it is about not screwing something up. So it's good to be paranoid. I was always checking things, following multiple instructions, watching the video right down there with the engine as I was doing stuff.

You mention the crank at TDC. More specifically, you want cylinder #1 at TDC, which happens once per two crank revolutions. Make sure you're not one rev off. Cam lobes for #1 should be approximately facing eachother in that position. Fitting the flywheel pin in place can be a little tricky. Easy to think it's in when it's not. When it is in properly, the crank should be locked from moving less than one degree (of course if you've got a thinner rod as a substitute, there will be a little more wiggle room there, but it should not be moving 10 degrees or anything like that).

In that location, if you want to proceed without the timing tools, you can hack it by clamping a straight edge of some sort to hold the square rear ends of the cams locked in place with respect to the head. You can then proceed with VANOS removal. I used zip ties to hold the secondary chain to the sprockets, and also white-out to mark alignment on ***everything***. Wiped off oil so the whiteout would stick. Photos too. All of those made reinstallation easier, and may have saved me from a mistake.

After doing all that, removing the timing stuff, the crank and cams are at TDC for #1, but if you are going to be removing the cam lock (necessary when you remove the cams; and obviously, the cam lock stops the cams from rotating), there is a concern that cams could rotate on their own due to cam/spring pressure, and two of the cylinders (#1 and #6, I think) are at the very top, flush with the top of the block. So the procedure at that point is to keep the cam locks in place, remove the crank-locking pin, and rotate the crank 30 degrees counterclockwise (yes, backwards). That backs cylinders #1 and #6 down a little from the top, so all 6 cylinders have some clearance below the valves. Makes it safer to avoid valve-piston contact if things move unexpectedly.

At that point, it is safe to remove the cam locks and proceed with cam disassembly or head removal.

If any of the above is a surprise, I'd recommend waiting for the tools and taking it slow and careful.

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2001 X5 3.0i, 203k miles, AT, owned since 2014